The Rise of MoonClan
by m00ntail
Summary: Moontail is struggling to get her Clan to respect her and get the other Clans to accept her. Only courage is keeping her going, alongside her best friends, Willowleaf and Spottedshine.
1. Chapter 1: The Rise of MoonClan

Chapter 1: The Rise of MoonClan

"_Are we there yet?" mewled the _little brown kit that was quickly shushed by an older cat. One cat lagged behind the others. Two young cats were whispering to each other, hiding in the shadow of an eagle. They were sitting in the open with no cover. _We can't go on like this._

"Cats of..." A gray she-cat called, but her voice trailed off. "Everyone gather around." Weary cats limped over to her. Pads where smeared with blood and everyone was as thin as a branch.

"I know this has been a hard journey but-" the she-cat, supposedly the leader of the group, started, only to be cut off.

"But you _believe_ our warrior ancestors are leading us to a place that really exists where we can live, and oh, maybe not all die on the way there? Is that what you think, Moontail?"

"Foxflight, please be quiet and listen to me please." Moontail snapped. "Listen to me, please! StarClan hasn't told me anything. They showed me this remarkable rich forest with other cats already living there. After all Firestar has done to bring this Clan together, I don't need it to shatter before my paws.

"Here's what I decided, we're going to make a name that will represent our strong will and determination. Whiteheart, scout this area for any herbs, take a couple of apprentices with you. We're going to rest here until we're well enough to continue this journey. Meanwhile, I want all of you to think of a name you think fits us the best. Willowleaf," Moontail called to her close friend and loyal deputy, "Organize hunting patrols with the healthiest and fittest cats you can find."

"You got it Moontail." Willowleaf chirped. "Thistletail, Lionclaw and Mistypaw, you're one patrol. Bigpaw, Wolfpaw and Foxflight, you be the other. Sunsplash, Stonepelt and Skyfur, you be a last one."

Cats have gathered into small groups to talk about the new Clan name.

"I think SunClan represents how strong and lasting we are, like a sun that lasts for moons and moons, even when the clouds block it from view." a elder rasped.

"CatClan!" a group of kits mewed. "Because we're cats in a Clan!"

"FlowerClan!"

"SeaClan?"

"MountainClan!" more and more ideas came. Moontail looked down proudly at her Clan.

"How about MoonClan? Because all the Clan's names came from their first leader." A queen suggested. Many other cats agreed.

"That's a better name..." one kit who called out 'CatClan' said.

"Perfect! Thank you, Spottedshine!" Moontail purred, waving her tail. Spottedshine and Willowleaf were her absolute best friends she could count on forever.

Whiteheart and three other apprentices returned, their jaws filled with a bunch of herbs.

"I don't recognize a bunch of these herbs but I'm afraid we'll just have to experiment on cats." Whiteheart explained, placing her bundle of leaves on the ground. "I can recognize yarrow and catmint, and I caught a whiff of burdock root somewhere but I couldn't track it."

"Is there any cat who is willing to test out new herbs?" Moontail called. A few elders and senior warriors came forward.

"Better test it on our older bodies then the ones who have a longer life to live." A brown tortoiseshell meowed. Whiteheart brightened up.

"Great, thanks Birdclaw and everyone! I highly doubt these could kill you but they may make you sick, so I can use the yarrow to make you even more sick until you throw it up."

"Um... Okay, Whiteheart." a white warrior mumbled.

That night when Moontail laid her head to sleep, the woke up in a totally different surrounding. There was a lush forest and a vast field of flowers. A stream overflowing with fish lived there too. She saw three groups of cats gathered around a high rock. _These must be the first three Clans StarClan sent here._ Moontail thought. They seemed to be having a Gathering, unlike the Gatherings Moontail attended back in Firestar's forest, where they held theirs on a full moon, they held their's in broad daylight. They all looked like the four Clans Moontail knew. The shiny, glossy coats who sat near the stream was probably RiverClan, but maybe they had a different name. The slightly skinny and nimble-looking cats who sat in the open flowery field resembled a lot of WindClan. The shady looking cats hiding in the shadows of the tall oaks where almost a ShadowClan twin. But Moontail realized there was no ThunderClan resembling Clan. There was an empty spot facing the forest.

_That is our spot_.


	2. Chapter 2: Troubles Written in the Moon

Chapter 2: Troubles Written in the Moon

_Mist obscured the rising sun; the _grass was heavy with dew. Cats emerged from bushes to be welcomed by the morning light. MoonClan's young medicine cat did a daily check-up on all wounded cats. Every cat was less tense than the previous day, but still wary. Moontail was grooming herself when Whiteheart approached her.

"Let me check your pads, Moontail." Whiteheart asked. Moontail would have refused but her bones ached and her paws felt like they were on fire.

"Whiteheart," Moontail asked after she finished. "Are the cats ready to continue travelling?"

"Most of the apprentices and younger warriors are recovering well, but I'm more worried about the kits and older cats." Whiteheart reported. "Honeykit is very frail and Mintwhisker can barely walk, her paws are too old to continue walking far distances. I'm trying to look for borage so the queens could produce more milk to strengthen the kits."

Moontail rested her tail on the young she-cat. "Take a rest. No cat will benefit with an ill medicine cat." Whiteheart gave a respectful dip of her head and padded away into the shade of an old oak.

Moontail padded over to her deputy. "Willowleaf, organize a couple of hunting patrols and maybe one for scouting ahead to report any danger?"

"Sure thing, Moontail." Willowleaf meowed. "How does it feel to be a leader?"

Moontail rested her gaze on her loyal deputy. She turned and saw Spottedshine playing with her kit. A patrol returned with jawfuls of prey. Pride swelled up inside Moontail. She turned back to Willowleaf and smiled.

"Great. Willowleaf, I think we're going to make it to that paradise land StarClan said. I saw a dream of it, it was amazing. Three other Clans were already there, they were having a Gathering in daylight, and there seemed to be one spot reserved just for us!"

Willowleaf purred. "I'm glad," she waved her tail. "I really am."

Moontail bounded over to the where the elder's where.

"Why can't we just live here? This seems like a good enough paradise for me." She heard Foxflight meowing loudly to her mate, Darkfur. Cursing under her breath, Moontail pushed that thought to the back of her mind. _I can't let my own warriors annoy me that much. I can't be broken for MoonClan's sake..._ Moontail shrugged off her annoyance and went to check on Mintwhisker, Thistlefur, and Smokeycloud, the elders.

"Hello, Moontail." Smokeycloud meowed a hoarse greeting.

"Hi, Smokeycloud. How are things going?" Moontail replied, staring at the frail black cat.

"It's going just fine." Smokeycloud answered.

"Moontail," Thistlefur spoke up. "I've been wondering, when are you going to receive your leader name?"

"My leader's name?" Moontail wondered out loud. "I guess I'm assuming that there's another place where I can receive mine, or I can always travel back to the forest when MoonClan's settled in the paradise territory."

"How about SkyClan?" Mintwhisker meowed.

"SkyClan? What about SkyClan?" Moontail mewed.

"How did Leafstar receive her nine lives and name? There's no way she'd leave her Clan and travel all the way to the forest with Firestar, did she?"

"No, I think she did it in her own territory with her own warrior ancestors and not StarClan." Thistlefur cut in before Moontail could reply. _Even the most respectful elder I know doesn't pay me, his own leader, any respect!_

"Yes, I think it went like that too." Moontail meowed. "Have a very great day, I must check on everyone else now." Moontail waved her tail in farewell and stalked over to her good, good friends, Stonepelt and Skyfur.

"Hey," Skyfur meowed, smiling.

"Moontail, finally, you came talk to us lowly cats." Stonepelt rolled his eyes in a teasing way.

"Well those lowly cats happen to be one of the cats I miss the most." Moontail meowed, giving Stonepelt a lick on the ear.

"How's your day going?" Skyfur mewed, kind of tense. Moontail sighed under her breath. These two brothers always get jealous whenever Moontail makes any more of an action to one of them (EDITOR'S NOTE: I honestly have no idea that "any more of an action" means but if you get what I mean you get what I mean).

"Well-" Moontail opened her mouth to confide her anxiety of a leader's responsibility and how she felt like no cat will listen to her and respect her like a great leader of the forest, but was almost immediately cut off.

"_Moontail_!" It was Foxflight. Cursing under her breath, Moontail stalked over and put on a sweet smile.

"Yes, Foxflight, do you have something to say to me?" Moontail meowed.

"Yes, I do." Foxflight declared loudly, catching other cats' attention. _Now my whole Clan will see me get bossed around like this._

"I have decided that we should settle here."

Moontail felt her neck fur bristle. It took anything in her to not jump on Foxflight. Taking a deep breath, Moontail calmed herself down and planned her words carefully to sound not so bossy and mean.

"Thank you very much for your opinion, Foxflight.I would take that into consideration, but choosing where the Clan will live is up to me, alright?" Moontail meowed. Foxflight's superior expression melted into confusion with a tint of anger in her sky-blue eyes.

"I know you are a young cat with exciting ideas, but could you please understand that as long as you're in MoonClan you will follow the present's leader's orders, which is now me, and which might be you one day. _Then_ you can deliver these ideas of yours. Alright? Have a good day, Foxflight."

"How dare you!"

Moontail had turned to walk away but heard Foxflight's enraged voice from behind. Foxflight was at lost for words. Everyone looked appalled that this young warrior will talk back to their leader like that.

"Is something wrong?" Whiteheart emerged from her huckleberry bush she was using as a makeshift medicine cat den. Her eyes where wide with fear that a battle broke out inside of the Clan. Skyfur leapt protectively to Moontail's side.

"Nothing's wrong." Darkfur muttered. Moontail knew he'd stick to his mate's side any day, but he looked slightly uncomfortable facing his leader like this.

Casting a glance at Foxflight, who still seemed to be searching for the right words to spit at Moontail, Moontail calmed herself down, forcing her neck fur to lie flat.

"Everything is fine. Just a small misunderstanding, Whiteheart." Moontail angled her ears at Foxflight, and Whiteheart nodded. Moontail leapt on a boulder.

"Cats of MoonClan, everything is fine." Moontail addressed the cats peeking out of bushes. "In fact, I have decided to call a Clan meeting."

Cats gathered around the smallish boulder. Foxflight stalked to where her mate, Darkfur, has decided to sit, behind the elders.

"I have heard that some cats think that they want to settle here. I want everyone's opinion on this, and the majority of votes will win." Moontail declared. A glimmer of pride sparkled in Spottedshine's eyes.

"Those who want to stay here, go to the right, and those who want to leave, stand on the left."

Cats scampered here and there. Mintwhisker walked to the right side with Smokeycloud, but Thistlefur stalked over to the left. The kits, apprentices and most of the warriors chose left, but Briarwood, a queen, chose right, and gestured for her kits to come join her; which only Brownkit went to his mom. Moontail gazed amoung the crowd of cats clustered into two groups. The left side won majority.

"Then it's decided," Moontail declared. "Cats of MoonClan, the majority has won, we are journeying to a paradise territory!"


	3. Chapter 3: Guidance

Chapter 3: Guidance

((Sorry for being super inactive by the way XD))

_The clearing was quiet and empty_, every cat was asleep. Moontail basked in the moonlight on a pile of flat stones next to the nursery. She looked up at the stars.

"StarClan, help me." Moontail begged quietly. "Show me a sign, am I leading this group of cats to their deaths?"

The stars twinkled and a breeze ruffled Moontail's neck fur. She heard claws scraping on stone and turned to see Spottedshine leaving the nursery, a old fox's cave.

"Moontail." Spottedshine greeted with a wave of her tail. "I've been waiting for a chance to catch up with you."

Moontail flicked her ears back in acknowledgement.

"So much has happened lately!" Spottedshine purred, settling beside Moontail. "Look at you! Back then it's been just a dream for one of us to become leaders of a clan." Moontail purred, happy to be in her old buddy's company again.

"I know right?" Moontail waved her tail. "It's quite difficult too. Warriors like Foxflight have a lot of ambition and potential but no respect for me. They don't yet recognize me as their leader yet. Sometimes I think I'm not fit to lead this clan." Spottedshine locked eyes with Moontail with that expression that she had seen many times during her apprentice days back in ThunderClan.

"There you go again, doubting yourself like you don't even have a choice. Moontail, out of all of us, Willowleaf, me and you, you were the most prepared to lead." Spottedshine declared in her fierce "no talking back" but friendly, encouraging way.

"Spottedshine, you know me. When we were apprentices you were so

encouraging and funny, you didn't care about what the rest of the clan thought about you and wasn't afraid to risk anything for other cat's sake. Willowleaf was so understanding and friendly, but she could oppose as an acknowledgeable threat if she tried. She learnt all the fighting and hunting tactics before all of us and you both raced to perfect them in a few moons.

"And then there was me, I was shy and introverted. I only trusted you guys. I was too afraid to speak my opinion and hesitated. A _lot_. More than halfway through my apprentice training and people _still_ thought I was a kit because of this." Moontail waved her oddly fluffy tail. Spottedshine turned and stared at her with such ferocity in her eyes and Moontail was slightly fearful of the queen.

"I don't want to hear you ever say that again. Moontail, if one out of the three of us was destined to be the leader of MoonClan, it would be you. It would always be you." Spottedshine yawned. "You are destined for more than this. More than any of us here. Think about it. I'm going to sleep now, good night… _Moonstar_."

Moontail's gaze trailed after Spottedshine until her speckled tail disappeared into the nursery cave. She wondered, _was she right?_

That night, Moontail awoke and found herself in a vast, misty stretch of grass with a forest of trees in front of her. Moontail heard faint whispers all around her, and there was a musty smell that scented like old, fallen stars.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Moontail asked into the misty shroud that floated above the pale green blades of grass. Her meow echoed off the trees. She started padding through the trees and found that they got thicker and thicker until she couldn't take a couple of pawsteps without changing course because of being blocked of by thick branches. Long vines crawled up and down the massively tall trees. There was no birdsong but a faint trace of cat. Moontail tried her best to follow the scent and navigate through the forest.

Her pelt was torn up by the time she broke out of the grove of trees.

She burst out into the open, greeted by a gust of fresh air. Another stretch of grass, but the mist was lighter in this one and it was easier to see. There were more smells, they were still mild but it was there. The grass had more colour and the sun peaked over the tops of the heard pawsteps coming from the light mist and turned to face whoever or whatever approached from the fog.

"Hello?" Moontail questioned the approaching figure. "Do I know you? And where am I?" A slender tortoiseshell she-cat emerged from the fog. Her tangy sweet smell surrounded her senses. Moontail recognized this scent.

"Spottedleaf?" Moontail questioned. The figure came into view, revealing the friendly, kind face of the former ThunderClan medicine cat.

"It's been awhile." The tortoiseshell purred. "You've grown so much, Moontail."

She and Spottedleaf had met firstly during her training battle against Stonepelt (Stonepaw) back when she was a apprentice ((in Moonpaw's origin story that maYbE I'll publish [most likely not because it's cheesy and Willowleaf and Spottedshine weren't included for some reason])). Although she didn't win, the older apprentice had admitted she had come close.

"Well, it has been awhile." Moontail waved her tail. "Spottedleaf," Moontail inquired. "I need some guidance."

"I know," Spottedleaf murmured. "I'm just a medicine cat. Moontail, you are the leader of MoonClan."

"Am I leading these cats to their deaths?" Moontail queried. "Is MoonClan ever going to make it to the promised land? Or… or was the prophecy all a lie?"

"I can't say everything but I will tell you this: MoonClan _will_ reach the paradise territory." Spottedleaf whispered into her ear. The slender she-cat was fading away. "Moontail, you need to gain your warriors' respect and take command. Take initiative."

"Spottedleaf?" Moontail yelled after the fading she-cat. "Come back! How am I supposed to do that?" A gust of wind had swept the tortoiseshell away and she disappeared among the stars.

"Spottedleaf… come back…" Moontail sobbed into the soil. "I need guidance…" Moontail dug her claws into the hard earth and curled up to shield herself from the cold, misty winds.

"Moontail?" Moontail woke up to the sound of Willowleaf's voice. She groggily sat up and drew a paw over her muzzle.

"Willowleaf," Moontail yawned. "How's the patrols?"

"Good, and er…" Willowleaf mumbled. "Foxflight's started up more trouble again." Moontail straightened up, ears pricked and alert.

"She's telling the kits and apprentices lies and tall tales to try and scare them into wanted to stay here." Willowleaf muttered. "A few warriors are trying to stop her but she's biting off their necks ((not literally)) and commanding them to leave her alone." Moontail sighed.

"They need you." Willowleaf meowed. Moontail rose from her nest and stalked out of the small cave she rested in. Moontail stood at the entrance of the cave, basking in the golden sunlight. She padded out and saw a clump of her warriors bickering about. Moontail took a deep breath and approached them. They stopped talking and looked at her. Moontail locked her gaze on Foxflight and exhaled.

_Take initiative._


End file.
